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Kurosawa
was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of film production. Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on numerous films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director during World War II with the popular action film '' Sanshiro Sugata''. After the war, the critically acclaimed ''Drunken Angel'' (1948), in which Kurosawa cast the then little-known actor Toshiro Mifune in a starring role, cemented the director's reputation as one of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men would go on to collaborate on another fifteen films. ''Rashomon'' (1950), which premiered in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ran (film)
is a 1985 epic historical drama film directed, edited and co-written by Akira Kurosawa. The plot derives from William Shakespeare's ''King Lear'' and includes segments based on legends of the ''daimyō'' Mōri Motonari. The film stars Tatsuya Nakadai as Hidetora Ichimonji, an aging ''Sengoku''-period warlord who decides to abdicate as ruler in favor of his three sons. Like most of Kurosawa's work in the 1970s and 80s, ''Ran'' is an international production, in this case a Japanese-French venture produced by Herald Ace, Nippon Herald Films, and Greenwich Film Productions. Production planning went through a long period of preparation. Kurosawa conceived the idea of ''Ran'' in the mid-1970s, when he read about Motonari, who was famous for having three highly loyal sons. Kurosawa devised a plot in which the sons become antagonists of their father. Although the film became heavily inspired by Shakespeare's play ''King Lear'', Kurosawa began using it only after he had started prepa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seven Samurai
is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai drama film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The story takes place in 1586 during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. It follows the story of a village of desperate farmers who hire seven rōnin (masterless samurai) to combat bandits who will return after the harvest to steal their crops. At the time, the film was the most expensive film made in Japan. It took a year to shoot and faced many difficulties. It was the second-highest-grossing domestic film in Japan in 1954. Many reviews compared the film to westerns. Since its release, ''Seven Samurai'' has consistently ranked highly in critics' lists of the greatest films in cinema history, such as the BFI's ''Sight & Sound'' and Rotten Tomatoes polls. It was also voted the greatest foreign-language film of all time in BBC's 2018 international critics' poll. Its influence on the film industry has been unprecedented, and it is often regarded today as one of the most "remade, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toshiro Mifune
was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and ''Yojimbo''. He also portrayed Miyamoto Musashi in Hiroshi Inagaki's ''Samurai Trilogy'' and one earlier Inagaki film, Lord Toranaga in the NBC television miniseries ''Shōgun'', and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in three different films. Early life Toshiro Mifune was born on April 1, 1920 in Seitō, Japanese-occupied Shandong (present-day Qingdao, China), the eldest son of Tokuzo and Sen Mifune. His father Tokuzo was a trade merchant and photographer who ran a photography business in Qingdao and Yingkou, and was originally the son of a medical doctor from Kawauchi, Akita Prefecture. His mother Sen was the daughter of a ''hatamoto'', a high-ranking samurai official. Toshiro's parents, who were working as Methodist missionaries, were some of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rashomon
is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori (actor), Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura as various people who describe how a samurai was murdered in a forest, the plot and characters are based upon Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s short story "In a Grove", with the title and framing story being based on "Rashōmon (short story), Rashōmon", another short story by Akutagawa. Every element is largely identical, from the murdered samurai speaking through a miko, Shinto psychic to the bandit in the forest, the monk, the assault of the wife and the dishonest retelling of the events in which everyone shows his or her ideal self by lying. The film is known for a plot device that involves various characters providing subjective, alternative and contradictory versions of the same incident. ''Rashomon'' was the first cinema of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Throne Of Blood
is a 1957 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film co-written, produced, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film transposes the plot of William Shakespeare's play ''Macbeth'' from Medieval Scotland to feudal Japan, with stylistic elements drawn from Noh drama. The film stars Toshiro Mifune and Isuzu Yamada in the lead roles, modelled on the characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. As with the play, the film tells the story of a warrior who assassinates his sovereign at the urging of his ambitious wife. Kurosawa was a fan of the play and intended to make his own adaptation for several years, delaying it after learning of Orson Welles' ''Macbeth'' (1948). Among his changes was the ending, which required archers to fire arrows around Mifune. The film was shot around Mount Fuji and Izu Peninsula. Despite the change in setting and language and numerous creative liberties, ''Throne of Blood'' is often considered one of the better film adaptations of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Works By Akira Kurosawa
The following is a list of works, both in film and other media, for which the Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa made some documented creative contribution. This includes a complete list of films with which he was involved (including the films on which he worked as assistant director before becoming a full director), as well as his little-known contributions to theater, television and literature. Filmography As director All the following are Japanese productions unless otherwise specified. A documentary film about the Noh theater, ''Gendai no No'' (''Modern Noh''), which was begun by the director during a break in the shooting of ''Ran'', but was abandoned after about fifty minutes were filmed, is being completed according to Kurosawa's script and notes. As producer Note: Data for the remainder of this filmography is derived primarily from the complete filmography created by Kurosawa's biographer, Stuart Galbraith IV, supplemented by IMDb's Kurosawa page. For the following fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yojimbo (film)
is a 1961 Japanese samurai film co-written, produced, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film stars Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katō, Takashi Shimura, Kamatari Fujiwara, and Atsushi Watanabe. In the film, a rōnin arrives in a small town where competing crime lords vie for supremacy. The two bosses each try to hire the newcomer as a bodyguard. Based on the success of ''Yojimbo'', Kurosawa's next film, ''Sanjuro'' (1962), was altered to incorporate the lead character of this film. In both films, the character wears a rather dilapidated dark kimono bearing the same family ''mon''. The film was released and produced by Toho on April 25, 1961. ''Yojimbo'' received highly positive reviews, and, over the years, became widely regarded as one of the best films by Kurosawa and one of the greatest films ever made. The film grossed an estimated $2.5 million worldwide with a budget of ¥90.87 million. It was unofficially remade by Serg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yojimbo
is a 1961 Japanese samurai film co-written, produced, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film stars Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katō, Takashi Shimura, Kamatari Fujiwara, and Atsushi Watanabe. In the film, a rōnin arrives in a small town where competing crime lords vie for supremacy. The two bosses each try to hire the newcomer as a bodyguard. Based on the success of ''Yojimbo'', Kurosawa's next film, ''Sanjuro'' (1962), was altered to incorporate the lead character of this film. In both films, the character wears a rather dilapidated dark kimono bearing the same family ''mon''. The film was released and produced by Toho on April 25, 1961. ''Yojimbo'' received highly positive reviews, and, over the years, became widely regarded as one of the best films by Kurosawa and one of the greatest films ever made. The film grossed an estimated $2.5 million worldwide with a budget of ¥90.87 million. It was unofficially remade by Serg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kagemusha
is a 1980 jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is set in the Sengoku period of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate the dying ''daimyō'' Takeda Shingen to dissuade opposing lords from attacking the newly vulnerable clan. ''Kagemusha'' is the Japanese term for a political decoy, literally meaning "shadow warrior". The film ends with the climactic 1575 Battle of Nagashino. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival (tied with '' All That Jazz''). It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and received other honours. In 2009 the film was voted at No. 59 on the list of ''The Greatest Japanese Films of All Time'' by Japanese film magazine Kinema Junpo. Plot During the Sengoku period, Takeda Shingen, ''daimyō'' of the Takeda clan, meets a thief his brother Nobukado spared from crucifixion due to the thief's uncanny resemblance to Shingen; the brothers agree that he would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hidden Fortress
is a 1958 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' adventure film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It tells the story of two peasants who agree to escort a man and a woman across enemy lines in return for gold without knowing that he is a general and the woman is a princess. The film stars Toshiro Mifune as General Makabe Rokurōta and Misa Uehara as Princess Yuki while the role of the peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, are portrayed by Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara respectively. ''The Hidden Fortress'' was the fourth highest-grossing film of the year in Japan, and Kurosawa's most successful film up to that point. It was a significant influence on the 1977 American film ''Star Wars''. Plot Two bedraggled peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, sell their homes and leave to join the feudal Yamana clan, hoping to make their fortunes as soldiers. Instead, they are mistaken for soldiers of the defeated Akizuki clan, have their weapons confiscated, and are forced to help dig graves before being sent away withou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ikiru
is a 1952 Japanese drama film directed and co-written (with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni) by Akira Kurosawa. The film examines the struggles of a terminally ill Tokyo bureaucrat (played by Takashi Shimura) and his final quest for meaning. The screenplay was partly inspired by Leo Tolstoy's 1886 novella ''The Death of Ivan Ilyich''. The major themes of the film include learning how to live, the inefficiency of bureaucracy, and decaying family life in Japan, which have been the subject of analysis by academics and critics. ''Ikiru'' has received widespread critical acclaim, and won awards for Best Film at the Kinema Junpo and Mainichi Film Awards. It was remade as a television film in 2007. Plot Kanji Watanabe has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for thirty years and is near his retirement. His wife is dead and his son and daughter-in-law, who live with him, seem to care mainly about Watanabe's pension and their future inheritance. At work, he's a party to c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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